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HyperDocs

HyperDocs in Math

As a high school math teacher for 29 years, I have watched my students change so much with how they learn and what they are exposed to in their school years. My students are products of instant feedback and they do not have to wonder about anything because they have Google in their pockets with their cell phones. A few years ago, as I was returning my paper assignment that I had graded, I noticed that my students would not even look at their mistakes. I have completely changed my class such that now my students get immediate feedback six times every single day in my class. Now my students look at their mistakes and learn from them before the assessment is given. I have experimented with many things in the classroom throughout my career and I can honestly say this works and I love it for many reasons. The most important reason is my students. I teach with HyperSlides and have built my slides to be engaging activities that allow students to work at their pace. They are able to complete interactive materials with instant feedback and built in self assessments. This provides students with more ownership of their learning and prevents waiting for a paper to be graded to see if they understand the content. HyperSlides is based on the strategy coined in the HyperDoc Handbook: Intentional Lesson Design Using Google Apps. Learn more about HyperDocs here.

Teacher Time

I start my class off with everyday with Teacher Time. Research shows that a student’s age plus one is the number of minutes you have of their attention before they start drifting from the topic. Therefore, if I teach 15-year-old students that means I have about 16 minutes to ask them to zone in and understand the material. Teacher Time is designed on that fact. I pre-select three to four problems that I teach to my students on a given topic or standard. I stand and deliver those problems in class as part of the teacher time, after completing those problems my students are directed to a Google Form with one problem that is similar to the one that they just watched me complete. The Google Form is branched, meaning that if students get the question right they move on to their Hyper Slides activities that I have prepared. If the student misses the question they are directed to help in the Google Form, which can be a video, or a problem that is worked out and placed in the form as an image. Once they are more comfortable with the question, the students try the problem again. If they are successful, they move forward, if they are not then they are given help as I watch their data live from the Google Form. Without my students having to ask for help, I make my way over and revisit the problem that was missed with individual attention while other students are moving forward.

Drag & Drop

Drag and Drop is one of the ways I allow my students to practice. It is interactive and allows them to practice the way their state assessment will be. In my state of Georgia, there is a Drag & Drop activity on the assessment that my students take. I have made a daily Drag & Drop in Google Slides for them each day as a quick practice and it is so much better than a worksheet. My students like this because they get a chance to Think-Pair-Share their results before turning in their slide deck. I want my students to be able to share and communicate about the math that we are doing in class. The Think-Pair-Share gives them time to collaborate with each other and build working relationships in their class, much like I do with my own job.

There are aspects of of digital Geometry lessons that are my students’ favorites. I do not assign traditional homework; instead I do a work session. The work session is an interactive engagement that provides the students a way to understand and practice their skills they have learned. The work session allows the students to ask for help and to sharpen their skills before their assessments. I use live data in my classroom daily. The live data is generated with Google Forms in a few different ways. I shared the Teacher Time You Try, however, built into each lesson is a Student You Try activity. The Student You Try is a Google Slide in the slide deck that has the pencil icon and my students know that they place their answer in a Google Form, which provides them with immediate feedback  on their comprehension of the standard. If they get the problem right they move forward, but if they do not get it right then help is given to them in that Google Form with a branched form that allows my students to see their mistake and to try again.

Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is an important piece of my class and I have my students self-assess twice daily. After completing the slide deck, students fill out the Google Form and the indicator for me to know if they got it, need more help or clearly don’t understand. I also provide a way for them to ask a question about the lesson. I choose to do this before they see their grade on the ticket, so a true value of the assessment is done before they see the grade. At the end of the slide deck, I give my students a self-assessment slide that asks them to decide how they feel about the lesson.  I think it is important that they can reflect on these as we progress through the curriculum of my class.

I use Bitmojis in my lessons and allow my students to use them to express how they feel about the lesson. I think for students that grow up with Bitmojis this is a great way for me to connect with them.

Another aspect of my class is my review menus. I realize that not every student needs every example, but some do. I teach to the many and accommodate the few, meaning I offer all kinds of different ways for my students to learn. This is an example of a menu for a summative review that I give my students. The red links are mandatory in my classroom and the other links are options depending on the self-assessments and the ticket grades for the unit. My students like the choices of the review menu, it helps them understand what to study for a summative assessment. My class has a high-stakes test, and showing my students’ study methods for their weaker standards is very important. I make menus according to topics so they can quickly find their materials. I teach using Google Classroom everyday. My students get a slide deck with all the different components and they get direct instruction for the topic of the day, everyday. However, to help with students missing class for different reasons, I post a video of me explaining the problems, and a PDF of the problems worked out in teacher terms so they can easily follow the process.

After years of teaching high school math, I have reflected often about my methods of teaching. Over the last three years I have taken my passion for using Hyper Slides in my classroom and applied it to training teachers. I share the things I have learned with educators around the world. Going digital is not for the sake of making teaching easier, but it does. The purpose was not to keep all things in my classroom organized, but it did. Integrating G-Suite for Education changed the landscape of learning FOR MY STUDENTS.

Lynda Moore has been a teacher for the last 29 years in Georgia, and the last 25 in Burke County at Burke County High School in Waynesboro, GA. She has taught all different levels of high school math. A lover of technology and a lifelong learner she has two children, her 21-year-old son, Trent and her 16-year-old daughter, Addison. She has been working with Google in her classroom for the last four years and training teachers the last three years. Teaching online Google Classes has allowed her to connect with many teachers learning about how to better engage their students. You can connect with Lynda at:
Twitter: @Lyndamoore209
Facebook: KnowMooreMath
Instagram: @KnowMooreMath
Email: [email protected]

Get The Hyperdocs Handbook: Digital Lesson Design with Google Apps from the EdTechTeam Store or on Amazon

5 Reasons to Love Hyperdocs and Digital Lesson Design

Hyperdocs

Let me count the ways…Valentine’s Day has inspired countless poems throughout the ages. Poetry is a vehicle for creative expression and what better way to celebrate this Valentine’s Day with students but through digital lesson design and Hyperdocs.

Hyperdocs are a vehicle that provides opportunities for students to be curious, creative, critical thinkers, collaborate with others and communicate while exploring content in a digital format. More than just an online worksheet, Hyperdocs allow teachers to intentionally design powerful lessons reflecting UDL principles in a sequence of personalized tasks. These multiple pathways students can take provide different ways students can demonstrate understanding and for the teacher to give feedback. Here are 5 of the many reasons why I love Hyperdocs:

You are the designer

You know your content and your students best. Hyperdoc digital lesson design allow teachers the opportunity to develop, design, curate and create content and assessment that is authentic to your classroom and audience.

Students are in charge

Hyperdocs provide choice of demonstrating understanding through multiple pathways for students.

Creative Content

With Hyperdocs, students can interact with content in a creative way and through different modalities.

Learning Styles are celebrated

Students can experience a lesson and show what they know in their learning style and strengths.

Hyperdocs are alive

Hyperdocs is digital lesson design that is alive and interactive. Utilizing the live, powerful collaboration components within Google Apps as the vehicle for your lesson allows this and takes your lesson to the next level.

Falling in love with good lesson design is easy. The hard part is finding the time to gather or create the resources. Want to learn more about Hyperdocs? Explore templates and example Hyperdocs created by teachers that you can use at hyperdocs.co.

Check out my favorite templates below from Teachers Give Teachers and spin them into an interactive and creative Valentine’s day activity for your class!

Poetry and Me: Where I’m From

Reading and Writing Poetry Journal

Haiku Poetry

Analyzing and Writing Social Justice Poetry

From Hyperdoc Handbook co-author Lisa Highfill: Be My Valentine Text Set

Want to go in depth with Hyperdocs? Check out the Hyperdoc Handbook: Digital Lesson Design using Google Apps by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton and Sarah Landis.

Check out more titles from EdTechTeam Press in the bookstore!

Gail Moore is an experienced educator with a passion for meaningful technology integration that promotes student voice and inspired change. She is inspired by teachers & students designing their own learning experiences through technology. Excited to share examples, resources and strategies for infusing technology and pedagogy Gail continues to co-plan, consult, model and provide professional development to teachers and administrators with Google for Education as a Google Certified Innovator, instructional technology and iOs devices as an Apple Teacher. She believes in technology as a tool to transform learning, empower students and teachers as co-designers in the learning process. Gail is currently an Instructional Technology Facilitator in Washington State working with teachers on inspired lesson design integrating 1:1 devices.

A HyperDoc Is Not A WebQuest!

TODAY on EduSlam we release the first short video in our two-week series: 

A HyperDoc is NOT a Webquest.

⏯  To watch the video which was released today but will disappear on Sept 4th,

✅ Sign-up HERE

_______________________

Words matter, and in a day and age where information is streaming through our timelines faster than we can keep up, figuring out what words mean can be challenging. In defining new terms, it helps to uunderstand the history and context of the term HyperDocs, in relation to the term WebQuest.

In 2013, many districts in our area began purchasing Chromebooks for the annual state tests. As teachers got excited about using technology, Sarah, Kelly, and I worked hard to share ideas about ways to incorporate a variety of web tools available. We immediately noticed some kinks it threw into many colleagues’ instructional craft. From typing in challenging URLs to trying to get students’ attention for directions, to workflow strategies for collecting and evaluating work, teaching with technology was a challenge. As we entered into coaching roles, we wanted to support our colleagues to rethink the way they were delivering content, and to elevate the way students were experiencing learning.

  • HyperDocs were created based on many research and learning theories including Eric Mazur, and Ramsey Musallam ’s work with Cycles of Learning, inspired by Robert Karplus ’s cycle Explore, Explain, Apply. HyperDocs are a way to package digital lessons in order to create quality inquiry-based learning experiences. Teachers design these lessons and give them to students to explore the content, adjust their understanding through the explanation of the concepts, then apply their knowledge in a meaningful way.

That describes the lesson design. What makes HyperDocs unique is the delivery. Whether it be ‘on tech’ or ‘off-tech’ these blended learning lessons can be designed to meet the needs of each classroom. Some teachers may choose to design them for independent, self-paced learning; while others design them to blend with different instructional strategies varying from 1:1 conferring, small group instruction, to whole group teacher-directed instruction. Teachers are tasked with integrating several best instructional practices to meet the needs of every learner. Whether you are trying to reach a language learner or student with Special Ed needs, want to integrate ISTE standards, increase the level of critical thinking, or design a lesson based on the UDL framework, HyperDocs help educators accomplish this! The key to getting it just right is for teachers to focus on studying their students as they learn, taking time to reflect on lessons, and revising them to meet the needs of specific learning goals.

I have often heard HyperDocs being called the new WebQuests. While HyperDocs and WebQuests have some characteristics in common, most revolving around effective learning theories, they are quite different. While I have long admired the work of Bernie Dodge and his creation of WebQuests, HyperDocs were not created with them in mind.

I appreciate Bernie Dodge’s own explanation around the confusion when defining WebQuests,

A WebQuest is centered around a challenging, doable and (ideally) authentic task. Examples of WebQuest tasks might include: writing a letter to the mayor taking a stand on whether a new landfill should be opened; writing a diary as if you were living in 1491; designing a travel itinerary for geologists visiting Italy; or creating a commemorative mural celebrating space exploration. A WebQuest is never about answering a series of questions. Even though a scavenger hunt might require some analysis or problem solving, it’s not of the same intensity of higher-level thinking that a good WebQuest entails. Obviously, there’s a place for both WebQuests and scavenger hunts, but they are different places with very different goals.”  From Larry Ferlazzo’s blog

WebQuests follow a structure by starting with a quest or task. Students, working in groups, divide up the tasks to be completed, and conclude with an application of knowledge gained from the activity. I have seen WebQuests as centered around strong instructional methods such as inquiry, critical thinking, and problem-solving, yet the similarities they share do not make a HyperDoc an actual WebQuest.

So how is a HyperDoc different from a WebQuest? Well-designed HyperDocs are more than a doc with links, or digital worksheet. They include a mindset for effective pedagogy as well, something that is not always visible upfront. They offer a solution to packaging digital content to inspire thinking, exploration, and curiosity. There is never one right way to design a HyperDoc, as long as they include a strong cycle of learning. Due to the flexible nature of Google Apps, they can be easily shared, revised, and edited to become a lesson that you would judge as of quality based on your classroom needs.

Aside from the actual digital lessons that are being created, HyperDocs are bringing together a community of teachers who value discussions around lesson design and collaboration who have previously felt alone in their classrooms. I am constantly getting feedback from educators who state that they feel creative again, excited to deliver their content in a different way, they are feeling successful in accomplishing the many instructional strategies they are tasked to integrate. A HyperDoc is not a program, it’s not a curriculum you adopt, it’s a way of connecting the lesson designing process, to tech integration, to effective pedagogy. It’s about taking time and thought into the lessons we deliver

Essentially, HyperDocs are what you make of them; from the initial construction to the delivery, to the reflection of the learning experience. They are one way, among many proven methods, to shift learning in the classroom.

To learn more visit:

hyperdocs.co  | @TsGiveTs | Facebook group |View a lesson in action

Lisa Highfill
Co-Creator & Author
The HyperDoc Handbook
PUSD Instruct Tech Coach
@lhighfill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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